getting down with the kids

i was thinking about this last week and then again yesterday at a party....how many other parents get down (as in right onto) on the floor with your kids?

It seems everywhere I go I am the only parent who is sitting on the floor playing, or interacting - esp at daycare both morning and night across all age groups, and at coffee groups and parties etc....I mean at DC the other day i had five kids piled onto me to read a story....never seen any of the parents do that there before but a bubba (not mine) bought me a book to read them.....

Am i weird to think that getting down onto the floor and interacting with your children is just not the "done" thing anymore? Is it too embarassing, or dirty or ???????

what do you guys do....

yep loveplayingonthe floor with the boys and i dont relly care were we are also wrestling with the boys toooand i,m always the one who gets hurt

I'm with you BS - I'm a down on the floor mummy too. It's something I've noticed quite a bit at daycare. When I drop Joshua off in the morning I stay for at least 15mins and get him settled, read a story etc etc. All the other parents seem to do the old "drop and run".

Keep doing the good stuff BS - it is definitely the best way to be

Yeah we get on the floor as well. Maybe some people feel self conscious in public?

Yep I get down on the floor too (although getting a bit hard to get back up now!). I think kids grow up way too fast to be self concious about what others think. The only other person who I care about what they think is Ollie

aimeejoy wrote: I do when I'm at home, but if we are at playgroup or party or something, then I take that as a bit of time for myself. And time for Hannah to play with other kids.

I'm a bit like that too, when we're out with other kids I'm just like "get away from me and go and play!"

I love playing around on the floor, have no problem with it, but like Aimee when we are at play group I will often step back and give her the opportunity to play independently with other kids, which I think is just as important. It is also a good time for me to have a break after being with her 24/7 and talk to some other mums.

Funny about the 'drop and run' comment with creche - our creche encourages parents to make the drop off fairly swift, sign in and settle them down with an activity but then don't draw out the goodbye or stick around for too long as it is actually harder for the kids. So I definitely don't hang about for 15 minutes - if I'm going to spend time with her playing at creche it's usually at the end of the day when I pick her up and we do a bit of exploring and talking about her day.

Different kids/parents suit different approaches I guess, we all do whatever works for us. And hey - if someone else is already down there reading a book to DD and she's happy, I'm always going to take that opportunity for five minutes to have a cup of tea with adults or grab something to eat without her trying to snaffle it!

Edited by Mazzy

I'm always playing with Michaela (or playing with her toys next to her), same at the park I'm forever on the play equipment racing her down the slide or swinging with her - I'm just a big kid really.

I was really surprised when I went to toddler day at the local pool to find despite there being about 20 kids and only one lifeguard (who was busy reading stories and filling the bubble machine) I was the only mum in the pool and most were talking to each other not watching their kids - that shocked me completely since, even in a shallow pool, I don't feel comfortable leaving my child.

We are always on the floor here too. Its great fun and ever since Alize was a few weeks old we have had set floor time everyday. This consists of the wlhole family being on the floor playing together. Heaps of fun!!

LOL I thought of this thread this afternoon when I was down on the floor reading books to the gremlins and trying to stop Sienna whacking Mercedes on the head.